It Is Finished

“When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, it is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.” ~John 19:30 KJV

In the beginning God created everything and declared it to be “very good” (Gen. 1:31). God’s creation was functioning the way He had purposed them to function. So by the seventh day God finished the work he had been doing, so he rested from all his work (Gen. 2:2).

 But evil entered this perfect creation when Adam and Eve chose to disobey God (Gen. 3:1-7). It is because of this very reason God Himself prophesied “I will make you and woman enemies to each other. Your descendants and her descendants will be enemies. One of her descendants will crush your head, and you will bite his heel” (Gen.3:15 NCV).

Because God is sovereign, He knew that Eve would be deceived and Adam would disobey Him. So He already had a plan B in place for humanity. In Hebrews 10:5 states: When Christ came into the world, He said: “You do not want sacrifices and offerings but you have prepared a body for me.”

And that brings me to my topic “It Is Finished”.

By revelation knowledge from the Holy Spirit, I was taught what this means. I know it is thought of that “It Is Finished” means that all God has done is done. And in a sense, eternity speaking, it is true but that is not what this portion of scripture is referring to. These three words hold in them the end of a thing and the beginning of a thing.

“It Is Finished” was Jesus’ declaration of completion and accomplishment of the work of the cross. Tetelestai, “It Is Finished”. Proclaimed the end of Jesus’ earthly mission given by the Father (John 18:37); It proclaimed the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy about Jesus’ sufferings (Gen. 3:15; Isa. 53); It proclaimed the completed work of redemption as the sacrificial and Passover Lamb of God (John 1:29; 1 Cor. 5:7) involving blood atonement (Eph. 1:7; Heb. 9:12, 22); It proclaimed the decisive moment of victory over Satan and his network of demons (Col. 2:15); and it proclaimed the achieved means of reconciliation of God with his creation and sinful humanity (2 Cor. 5:18-19,21; Col. 1:20-22). “It Is Finished” Nothing can be added to the finished work of the cross for salvation. In a nutshell Jesus’ cry signified the end of his sufferings and the completion of the work of redemption. The debt of our sin was paid in full.

“It Is Finished” is not stating that there is no need for us to wait on God but God is waiting on us.

“It Is Finished” is talking about salvation in its totality from start to finish. Jesus came and redeemed mankind for the Father. God the Father provided for us the only acceptable sacrifice for our penalty, God the Son, the Lamb. This was a gift from the Father to humanity. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—Eph. 2:8

For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous. Romans 5:19

Consider the work of the cross, a perfect work, perfect in every respect, perfect in every aspect.’ So there are respects and there are aspects. We are going to look at ten different aspects of the work of Calvary. Ten different ways to view what God accomplished there by the death of Jesus.

1. Jesus was punished that we might be forgiven
2. Jesus was wounded that we might be healed
3. Jesus was made sin with our sinfulness, that we might be made righteous with His righteousness
4. Jesus tasted death for us that we might share His life
5. Jesus was made a curse that we might receive the blessing
6. Jesus endured our poverty that we might share His abundance
7. Jesus bore our shame that we might share His glory
8. Jesus endured my rejection that I might have His acceptance with the Father
9. He was cut off that we might be joined to the Lord
10. Our Old Man was put to death in Him that the New Man might come to life in us

In God's Hands and His Service,

Mary J. Bryant

Acts 17:28